Firing off the shoulders of the Election Commission Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government have floated another trial balloon, an idea the ruling BJP has often voiced: synchronised national and state assembly elections. On the face of it there are several sound reasons for synchronised polling. After all the first four general elections in India in 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967 were synchronised elections, and the constant cycle of polls in different states is not only costly but many believe that the repeated kicking in of the Model Code of Conduct also interferes with a systematic governance agenda.
Yet in times when assertive regional parties, leaders and sentiments dominate the idea of India, when cultural identity is being proudly defined Read More
